


Runaways

by tyigra



Series: MSA Forays [2]
Category: Mystery Skulls (Band), Mystery Skulls Animated
Genre: Blood and Violence, Developing Friendships, Eventual Fluff, Gen, Mystery/Detective story, Prequel, first case
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-25
Updated: 2016-05-18
Packaged: 2018-06-09 04:32:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 18,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6890293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tyigra/pseuds/tyigra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/4216638">House of Strays</a> Prequel</p><p>Serious summary:  A girl, a dream, and the open road.  Every story has to start somewhere, and in Vivi's case, that somewhere is a cry for help that leads to her first real case.  But what starts out seemingly simple soon spirals into more and more questions.  You could say it's one hell of a mystery...</p><p>SRS BSNS summary:  In which Vivi ghosts out on her parents to join the #vanlife culture, a teenage otaku is exceedingly shallow, MysteryBen27 is definitely not a character in the story, Detective Vivi excels at research and swearing, and the grounds are laid for a partnership of quiet dignity and respect with absolutely no chance of dissolving into witty banter and physical comedy in the future.  Featuring one theatrically appropriate bout of terrible weather, one violent scene of carnage, one excitement-induced panic attack, two touching family reunions, and one trinket that you totally thought wasn't important and didn't need an elaborate back-story, but damn if it didn't just get one anyway, so nice work.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Dark and Stereotypical Night

**Author's Note:**

> A huge thanks to MerianMoriarty for being my beta-reader!

The house was isolated, at the end of a cul-de-sac in a new development that had only finished construction on a sparse few lots. The moon was full, even if it couldn't be seen. The sky was churning with charcoal clouds and near-constant glimmers of lightning. The autumn air was electric with the coming storm, and the wind had teeth. Vivi couldn't have dreamed of a more perfect time and place.

The streetlight cast a yellow pall across the duffel bag on the pavement as Vivi tried to pick out the tools she was most likely to need in the next few hours, as quickly as possible. She didn't want to get any of her valuable equipment wet trying to carry it into the house later, after it started pouring down rain. Cameras, crystal balls, thermometers, cloves of garlic, EMF meters, a Ouija board, microphones, paper talismans, her laptop... what else, what else? Flashlights. Dream catchers. Candles. Her notebook, couldn't forget that. She hopped back through the rear doors and fetched the last few items out from the milk-crate shelves that also held up her mattress. She glanced at the map of the country that hung on the wall, dotted with numerous thumbtacks of different colors. White for duds. Black for fakes. Green for minor manifestations. Still no red tacks, though. Maybe tonight would finally be the night? She shivered with excitement and felt a wild grin pull at her lips.

Hopping back out, Vivi tossed the last few items in her bag and locked up the van. She could already see a few droplets of water on its side, glistening along the bright blue paint. She scooped up the duffel and hurried up the length of the driveway to the front door, taking shelter in the entryway as the first sprinkles quickly grew in size and number. She rang the doorbell, breathing deep and trying to compose herself. As she waited, she stared at the halo of yellow around the streetlight in the dark night, illuminating the rain as it came down harder and harder, billowing like sheets in the wind.

At the sound of locks turning, she turned back and put on her most professional face. Because that's what she was. A professional. So professional. She had business cards and everything. She didn't just seek out rumors on the Internet, people _called_ her to investigate their paranormal problems! And by people she meant one person. This person. But they had to have researched at least ten... okay, _twenty_ pages of search results for paranormal investigators before they found her web page, and they still decided she was the one for the job! That meant something, didn't it? Everyone had to start somewhere, anyway.

The door opened, spilling out warmth and light. A boy stood before her, probably of high-school age, trying to pose in a way that he must have thought was dashing and attractive, raking a hand through his hair and grinning. Since he was entirely back-lit, though, his face actually looked a bit grotesque from the shadows.

“ _Hajimemashite_ ,” he said in as deep a voice as he could muster.

“Uh,” was her reply. She took in his hair; dyed black, probably straightened, and falling into his eyes. His shirt proudly proclaimed the logo of some anime that she guessed was the latest craze in Japan. Suddenly she knew exactly why she had been chosen out of 20 pages of search results, and disappointment crawled across her skin. Maybe she shouldn't have put her photo on her web page.

On the other hand, at least it got her foot in the door. Everyone had to start somehow.

“Rei, don't just stand there blocking her way, let her in!” came a motherly voice, and a middle-aged woman with pale blond hair stepped into view. The boy shuffled aside, looking a bit irritated that he'd been interrupted, and Vivi just barely crossed the threshold and got the door shut before the woman pounced on her hand with a vigorous shake. “I'm Amanda Stalnaker, and this is my son Rei--”

“Spelled with an EI, not an AY,” he butted in before his mother could steer him out of the way by a firm grip on his shoulders.

“Thank you so much for coming, and I apologize again for calling you so late in the evening!”

“Oh, it was no trouble, I keep odd hours.” _I nearly had a heart attack; it was the first time I'd gotten a call on my new phone and I'd forgotten that I set my ringtone to be a bloodcurdling scream._ “Lucky thing I was in the general neighborhood!” _Well, general by bat-out of-hell driving standards._ “You said you think you have a poltergeist?”

“Yes... please, come in and sit down. Can I get you anything to drink?” Amanda asked as she ushered her into the formal living room. There was a man seated on the couch already; he turned off the TV and watched her neutrally as she entered. “This is my husband, Benjamin. Don't pay him any mind, but he doesn't believe in ghosts,” she said with a cluck of her tongue.

“I didn't say _that_ ,” he clarified as he rose to his feet, moving slowly as if stiff. His hair was graying at the temples, and his eyes looked tired. “I merely said I don't believe _this_ is the work of a ghost.” He proffered his hand. “And you are...?”

“Oh! Vivi. Just Vivi,” she said as she set her bag down on the coffee table and accepted the handshake, which was much more gentle than his wife's had been. “Why don't you think it's a ghost, sir?”

He winced. “Please, “Just Ben” is fine for me, too. And I haven't seen anything yet that can't be explained by a certain teenage boy acting out.”

“You haven't seen anything at all, Ben,” Rei groaned. "You always show up to see the aftermath but never the show.”

“What kind of occurrences are we talking about here?” Vivi asked as she sat down on the other end of the sofa, unzipping her bag just enough to pull out her notebook. Behind her, the rain beat down against the span of windows that looked out into the darkness. Vivi adjusted her rose-colored glasses with her pencil before holding it poised above the the paper. “Start from the beginning.”

“Well, in the summer I went with my anime club to see Japan, which was _awesome_ ,” Rei began, “and when I came back Mom and Ben had closed on this house and finished moving in. That's when all the _weird_ things started.” He stared at her intensely through the curtain of his hair, his voice sounding oddly theatrical, and Vivi found herself wondering if he'd rehearsed that.

“You'd think a brand new house wouldn't have any ghosts, no one's even lived here!” Amanda said with a bit of a pout.

“It could've been built on an ancient burial ground,” Rei argued, sounding much more natural. “Or maybe a builder got killed while working. Or some random murderer took advantage of the construction site to dump a body!”

Amanda gave a long sigh as she stared heavenward. “Is nowhere safe?”

“So, the weird things?” Vivi asked, her pencil scratching quickly across her notebook. A sharp crack of thunder rumbled through the house, its vibrations so intense she could feel it through her feet.

_began in summer_  
_new construction- check land records, contractor, local missing persons_  
_Japan- cursed object? stowaway? check souvenirs, travel itinerary_  
_hoax- teenager, just moved, (step?)dad issues, acting out?_  
_Telekinesis/poltergeist- puberty, stress_

“Bad smells float in and out, like there are rotten eggs in the ducts,” Amanda said, wrinkling her nose.

“Or stink bombs,” Ben added nonchalantly.

“Or _sulfur_ , because _demons!_ ” Rei huffed.

“Sometimes I'll walk into the den and find that all the shelves have dumped their contents on the floor. Usually I pick everything up right away, but one time I was so frustrated I just turned around and left. When I came back, everything was right back where it was supposed to be, but Ben and Rei were downstairs the whole time and couldn't have done it!”

“Or so you've convinced yourself...”

“Oh, shush, dear, you don't know what you're talking about. Maybe Rei could have been behind those things, but what about the extra door?” Amanda said as she crossed her arms and stared at him expectantly.

“Your eyes were playing tricks on you, that's all! You said yourself that you were just walking down the hallway, not really paying attention.”

“I walked past a door that shouldn't have been there, and when I turned around again it vanished!”

“Which part of the house was this?” Vivi cut in, trying to head off the argument before it could pick up steam.

“Upstairs, between the bedrooms. It startled me half to death, I tell you! There have been other things, too, little things like food going bad the day after it's bought, but it wasn't until last night that something happened that truly... frightened me.” She turned pale, clutching at Rei's hand and darting fretful looks across the room at the mantle above the fireplace. “I was up late reading when the power surged and went out, just for a few seconds. I heard the sound of breaking glass in the darkness, and when the lights went back on... wh-when the lights... went back on...” Amanda's voice choked up, while her son shifted uncomfortably beside her. “Every single picture frame in the room was broken and Rei's... Rei's face... was scratched out of every photo.”

Vivi's pencil stilled as her eyebrows rose. She shifted her glance to Rei, but he was engaged in a staring contest of sorts with Ben. Obviously, his father thought he was behind it, and Rei seemed unimpressed by the accusation. She turned instead to look at the mantle, but the portraits had been removed. “You believe the spirit means to harm your son?”

She nodded hesitantly. “It all seemed so harmless until then.”

“And you, sir? I mean, Ben? What do you think?”

He spared an apologetic look for his wife. “I think Rei did most of the damage earlier, and you didn't notice until he tripped the breaker and broke some glass in the dark. Hearing that sound is what made you look for a source.”

“Are you serious?” Rei scoffed. “And what if she noticed the damage before that?”

“Maybe she was supposed to. Maybe you got impatient when she didn't and that's why you had to trip the breaker.”

“ _BEN!_ Will you _stop_ accusing my son!!” Amanda shouted, her cry punctuated by another house-shaking rumble of thunder.

 _Family squabbling is definitely not what I signed up for_ , Vivi thought as she sunk lower in her seat. _Awkward._ The lights flickered weakly for a second before resuming their steady glow. _Sweet, distraction!_

“Hey, uh, do you have any candles in the house, Amanda? I think it might be a good idea to light a couple now, just in case.”

Amanda stared at her, the hostility in her gaze melting away as she processed the thought. “What? Oh. Yes... of course! Such a terrible storm, isn't it?” She took to her feet, pulling her son up with her. “Come on, Rei, help me figure out where the emergency candles got stashed away after the move.” Rei looked back at Vivi like he'd rather spend time with her than his mom, but after a narrow-eyed look at his dad, decided to play the obedient son after all. They disappeared into what she presumed was the kitchen.

Suddenly the living room was very quiet. Vivi took refuge in writing out a few more lines in her notebook, hoping to avoid looking at Ben and somehow increase the awkwardness.

“Nice,” he said in a wry tone.

She couldn't help it, she looked up. “What?”

He nodded his head to her bag on the coffee table, which she realized was open in such a way that the contents were visible to anyone seated at the sofa, including the stack of candles she had packed at the last moment. She felt a touch of red warm her cheeks. “Well... more candles won't hurt.”

He grinned, but the expression faded away a moment later into something more apologetic. “Sorry about all this. I'm not sure what motivated you to come out all this way, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't to sit through any family screaming matches.”

She snorted. “I've had more than enough of those already, thanks.”

He looked like he wanted to ask about that, but had the sense to steer away from that conversation. “So, uh. Do you do this for a living?”

“In a manner of speaking...” Vivi replied evasively.

The wry grin was back, his eyes twinkling behind pince-nez glasses. “More like you live to do this, huh?”

She couldn't help but grin back. “Now you've got it.”

“How do you do it? Work a day job to support this one?”

“I'm just living off my savings at the moment, supplementing it whenever I can.”

“Ah. Still living with your parents, then?”

She barked a bitter laugh. “ _Hell_ , no. We're not on speaking terms at the moment.” She paused, then rubbed her arms self-consciously. “I'm not sure why I told you that.”

His smile turned more gentle. “I'll pretend I didn't hear it, then. So, is it always like this? Dark stormy nights and potential poltergeists?”

“Ha, oh I _wish!_ This could very well be my most exciting case yet! Assuming it's real, of course. God, I hope it's real,” she said with a shiver of longing, before she realized how that sounded. “Not that things being real is unusual or anything!” Then she realized how _that_ sounded. “Not that I'm hoping for something dangerous to your family, of course!”

Ben started to laugh, softly at first but then bursting forth from within with a sort of helpless delight. He seemed surprised at himself as he wiped away a bit of moisture from the corners of his eyes. “Sorry, I don't mean to laugh at you, Vivi! I'm just tired, I guess. Honestly, whether there's a ghost at work here or not, regardless of what I believe, I hope you can get to the bottom of this.” He leaned back against the sofa, sagging into it with exhaustion. “I can't live like this much longer.”

“Like what, exactly?” she asked, expecting some kind of complaint about lost sleep.

He stared blearily at the ceiling, the bags under his eyes like bruises. “Like...” He trailed off, looking miserable, before sitting up again and shaking it off. “So how does this ghost-hunting thing work, exactly?” he asked with forced brightness. “What do you do?”

_He doesn't want to talk about his own experiences? Interesting. Perhaps he really does suspect a ghost is at work, but is in denial._

“Well, at the scene of the haunting I like to set up recording equipment and take measurements of several scientific variables,” she recited, trying to sound as professional as possible. “I also have a lot of more... _traditional_ tools meant for detecting fluctuations in the spiritual realm.”

“Is that so? Which method works better?”

She floundered for a second, not wanting to admit that she had no freaking clue if _any_ of her tools were actually of any use, and wouldn't until she found a strong enough haunting to test them all on. “Honestly, so far? Plain ol' research has been my best bet.”

He blinked, giving her an odd look she couldn't interpret. “Oh really?”

“Yep. Just... interviewing folks and... hitting the library and... stuff.”

The odd look continued. If anything, it grew more intense. “Hmmmm?” he murmured softly, like he was a teacher evaluating a student's final project. The thought made Vivi shift uncomfortably. Her days in high school still weren't nearly far enough away.

Rei and Amanda chose that moment to shuffle back into the room with a variety of jar candles and an oil lamp, which seemed like the perfect opportunity to dodge any further questioning. “How about if I start setting things up before we go any further? With your permission, I'd like to place some cameras and other monitors in the den, the upstairs hallway, and anywhere else where weird stuff happened.”

Amanda and Ben exchanged glances and nodded, though the lady of the house looked less than thrilled about the idea. “As long as they're not in the bedrooms or bathrooms,” she conceded.

“And then after that's done,” she said, completely failing to keep the excitement out of her voice, “I'd like to try to communicate with the spirit!”

* * *

 


	2. Making Contact

“How many more?” Rei whined as Vivi secured the camera in the best position to capture as much of the den as possible, while still focusing on the bookcases that had reportedly dumped their contents.

“This is the last one,” she said absently, not really paying him much attention. Camera recording, check. Battery backup in place, check. She moved the EMF reader and thermometer a little farther away, so they wouldn't be out of focus. A few small candles from her personal stash were set in strategic places to light the scene should the power go out. “There... I think that's good.”

“Finally,” Rei muttered.

“You didn't _have_ to help me.”

“I thought maybe we could talk as you worked! You know, get to know each other, share our interests...”

“Sorry, but I'm not really into in anime.”

“But you're—!” Her eyes narrowed, and he hastily derailed his sentence. “My age,” he finished weakly.

“I'm twenty. You're still in high-school.”

“That's... close.”

She laughed before she could stop herself. His expression soured, but she couldn't stop now. “Look, kid, maybe you're just trying to be friendly, but I came here to work. I may not even be here by tomorrow night.”

“I'm not a kid,” he said, as if he hadn't even heard anything she said after that word. “I'll have you know I'm quite popular with the ladies at school. A heartthrob, even. They think I'm very mature.”

She gave him a bland look that seemed to encompass him from head to toe. “Would those be the ladies from Jr. High?” Seeing him turn purple with anger, she sighed and tried to tone it down a bit. “Sorry, that was rude.” It wouldn't do to piss off the son of the woman who was going to give her her first paycheck as a paranormal investigator. “I'm sure there are plenty of girls at your school who go for the whole “Japanese model” look.”

He seemed somewhat mollified by that, though his face was still patchy with color. “But not you?”

She smiled. “Nooooooo. No. Definitely not.”

“Why, what's your type?”

“Built like a tank,” she said with a dreamy look and a hint of drool. _With arms that could scoop me up like a feather and bulging pectorals and gleaming abs and a glorious a--_ she shook herself out of it and scooped up her lightened duffel bag, fighting the urge to titter nervously. “But that's neither here nor there. Come on! To the living room!”

He followed her with dragging feet back to where his parents were waiting, the TV tuned to a grim weather forecast cut with intermittent silence thanks to the spotty reception. They looked up with nervous anticipation upon her return, obviously on edge at the thought of contacting the dead. Perhaps it had been tactless of her to announce her intentions and then leave them to stew over it until she was ready. Eh, too late now.

“So!” she chirped with shameless enthusiasm, “are we ready to start?”

Amanda's hands wrung nervously in her lap, but she shifted to face the coffee table in the center. “If that's what it will take,” she said in a breathless rush, staring at the space she had cleared off for the purpose.

Ben turned the TV back off and gave a stiff nod, his mouth a grim line. Vivi pulled the glossy Ouija board out of her bag and set it up on the polished wooden surface, straightening it when it slid about a bit too easily. _Hmm, that could be a problem. But one that's easy enough to solve!_ She whipped out a half-used roll of masking tape and tacked down the corners, ignoring the pained look Amanda gave her as she did it. It wasn't _duct_ tape, _geeze._

“Can someone get the lights?” she asked absently as she lit the candles and lamps Amanda had found. She heard Rei shuffle somewhere behind her as the room faded into dim shadows. The storm outside, which had lulled for a little while, decided to kick it up a notch, pounding rain as loudly as it could against the windows. “All right, everyone, place your fingers on the planchette.” There was a moment of nervous fluttering and bumping before they all came to the conclusion that there was only enough room for one hand per person. “Everyone comfortable? Good. Breathe in... breath out. Relax. Try to be open and receptive to whatever force may be among us.” No one else dared to speak, but eyes lit only by glints of reflected candle-light peered nervously at the shadows that fluttered along the walls and ceiling. The scene was set. It couldn't be more perfect.

“Is the entity that haunts this place with us right now?” Vivi asked softly, dramatically.

A tense silence. Nothing happened. She tried again.

“Spirit of this place, we wish to speak with you. Will you speak with us?”

More waiting. A tiny twitch could be felt under her fingers, and Amanda's sharp inhale could be heard easily even over the storm. The cheap plastic planchette gave a few more unsteady twitches, before smoothing out into a steady slide over to the _yes._

Fire filled Vivi's veins. _This is really happening. Is it really happening? Tell me it's really happening!!_ She cleared her throat.

“What is your name?” She struggled to keep from shivering with excitement, afraid it would interfere with the planchette, which was moving again.

_No._

For a split second, she was flummoxed. _Does it not know it's name? Maybe it doesn't remember who it was when it was alive? Or maybe this isn't a human spirit, but something more sinister, and it refuses to give us any power over it? Or maybe it's name is literally “No?” ...Okay, probably not that one. Should I press further?_ After a few moments thought, she decided not to, for fear it would stop speaking to her entirely.

“Alright. Can you tell me why you are here?”

A pause. _Yes._

She breathed out a soft laugh in spite of herself. The Stalnaker family glanced at her in disbelief before turning their eyes back to the talking board with horrified fascination. Vivi couldn't help her amusement, though, at the literal-ness of spirits.

“So, why are you here?”

With agonizing slowness, it began to spell. _R – u – n – a – w – a – y._

The smile abruptly left Vivi's lips. The image of a dark night and a van rolling down a hill in neutral, its headlights off, flashed though her mind. She quickly squashed it down. “You ran away from home and ended up here?”

_Yes._

“Is this where you died, then?”

The planchette didn't move. She pursed her lips. “Do you know how you died?” Still no response. She decided to move on from that one. “Do you want to go back home?”

This time the planchette moved with the most speed it had managed to muster so far, circling around the _No_ several times, as if for emphasis. Vivi noticed Ben staring at her, and realized a rather twisted smile had crept over her face without her permission. She hastily smoothed it out again. _I know how you feel, spirit,_ she thought to herself.

“Do you... need help? To cross over?”

It started to move for a second, then stopped.

“Do you _want_ to cross over?”

Nothing. Vivi shook her head slightly, determined to get to the bottom of this. Maybe she needed to ask less leading questions.

“What _do_ you want?”

_F – r – e – e – d – o – m._

Vivi stared at the board. The board didn't stare back, because it was only a board, but she felt like a very keen presence was focused on her intently, all the same. Freedom. If crossing over wasn't freedom for a ghost, than what was? To her, freedom was an open road and a steering wheel under her hands. But of course the spirit didn't mean _that_ , it probably just meant freedom from being bound to the place where it died. If it _was_ a spirit, of course.

“Freedom from what?” she asked, not sure what kind of answer she was looking for.

After a long moment where she thought it wasn't going to answer again, it finally started moving. _E – x – p – e – c – t – a – t – i – o – n – s._

Vivi's heart did a somersault, her face flushing. A flash of memory pranced, unwelcome, to the forefront of her mind: patronizing faces, deaf ears, and applications to prestigious universities she never asked for. She shook her head to clear it, eyebrows knitting. This was all getting rather personal very quickly, uncannily so. Could a random ghost, the first she'd come across, really have desires so perfectly matched to resonate with her own? It just seemed _suspicious._ If this was actually a demon who was fucking with her, she was going to be _pissed._

“Are you human?” she asked, ignoring the way the question made Amanda whimper softly. The spirit said nothing, of course, and Vivi almost growled with frustration. “Where is the home you ran away from?” Still no response. “Where do you want to go to?”

 _A – n – y – w – h – e – r – e._ A pause. _E – v – e – r – y – w – h – e – r – e._

She blinked, and some of the anger that was building up inside her drained off just as quickly as it had formed. Maybe there was something about the way the planchette had dragged itself despondently from letter to letter, or maybe she was somehow picking up on the spirit's emotions, but the answer just felt... honest. Full of longing. Like any similarities really were a coincidence, not a trick. “What holds you here?” she asked, her voice dropping low.

The planchette started to move quickly across the board before it froze, as if someone was pressing their fingers down too hard for it to move. Vivi blinked, looking around at the small family assembled around her as if she'd forgotten they were there. She recalled, belatedly, that any one of them could have been pushing the planchette from the start. There might not even be a spirit here at all.

“Hey, guys?” she asked softly, not wanting to startle them. “I want to try something. Can we all take our hands off for a moment?”

Amanda's hand flew off as if burned, followed more slowly by Ben's. Vivi looked up and met Rei's eyes when he failed to move, and his expression was sullen as he finally did as asked. “Don't you trust us?” he muttered.

“I just want to remove some variables, that's all,” she replied. “Spirit, can you still speak to us?” She waited patiently, but the planchette sat motionless, a mere toy.

“If the spirit could move the thingy by itself, it wouldn't need people to touch it in the first place,” Rei grumbled.

“But it can move other things, like the books off the shelves, right?” she replied with a frown. “When it wants to, at least.” She tapped her chin in thought, then leaned closer again. “Maybe... maybe if only I touch it...” She reached down, placing the fingers of both hands lightly atop the plastic slider. “Spirit? Can you speak now?”

The seconds ticked agonizingly by. _Please_ , she prayed, _I just want to know that this is real. Show me that you're real!_ The planchette grew cooler under her fingers, and hope wavered uncertainly in her chest. Was the ghost touching it too? Or was everyone's body heat just leaving it?

“Spirit? Are you still here? Can you answer my question?” The silence ticked by with nary a twitch under her fingers. Vivi felt her hope crumble, and she flopped over the board in disappointment, head bowed.

A second later, the room plunged into darkness as a nonexistent wind suddenly puffed out all the candles, and something crashed through the living room window.

Screams and shouts pierced the black as shards of glass and cold water sprayed everywhere. Vivi jumped to her feet along with everyone else, eyes squinting against the frigid wet mist and blasting wind. The shadowy silhouettes of the Stalnaker family flailed about in a panic, arms waving defensively and stumbling about in the darkness. “Someone get the lights!” Amanda cried. There was cursing and thumping before light suddenly pierced her eyes.

The neat and orderly living room looked like a tornado had gone through, all toppled furniture and glass shards and a large wet tree branch laying half in and half out the window. Rain was pouring in, quickly drenching the carpet and couch. “My _furniture!_ ” Amanda gasped in a scandalized tone, all fear of the supernatural suddenly forgotten in the wake of a more practical one. “I need towels! And a trashbag! And cardboard! Ben, get one of the moving boxes! Rei, I need a broom and dustp—you're _bleeding!_ ”

Rei stared down at his arm, where liquid red was starting to well up from cuts in the skin. “Oh,” he said in mild surprise, gripping his arm below the wounds. “Ow.” The blood began to flow faster, dripping down over his hand. “ _Ow!_ ”

 _Shit_ , Vivi thought as she lunged over to his side, wishing she had a scarf or handkerchief or something to stop the blood with. _Is this my fault?_ “Is there a first aid kit in the bathroom?” she asked as she took hold of his shoulders and steered him in that direction, barely waiting for an affirmative nod. “I'll take care of him, don't worry. Its just a scratch!” _Please be just a scratch._ Guilt throbbed through her at the mere suggestion that it could be worse. _What was I thinking, trying to chat up a poltergeist like it was a harmless lost ghost?_

The bathroom lights were harsh and unforgiving, every drop of blood almost glowing where they hit the sink. Rei stared numbly as she washed off the wound and hunted for the first aid kit, apparently still shocked by the sudden turn of events. “Fucker bit me,” he finally croaked with a tone of surprise.

Vivi opened her mouth to reassure him, but paused. They didn't... actually _look_ like glass cuts. Rather than long, thin scrapes, his arm was marred by a few small punctures. Like something with fangs had nipped him. The bleeding was already slowing down, at least, but now Vivi was feeling even more reason for concern. What if Rei contracted some sort of supernatural infection? Or what if the poltergeist's attacks continued to escalate?

“Why do you think it hates you so much?” she pondered aloud as she treated the wounds with some antiseptic.

“I dunno,” he mumbled with a shrug, looking sullenly off to the side. “Aren't poltergeists drawn to teens with psychic powers or something?” He perked up. “Maybe I'm psychic!”

She smiled a little at his enthusiasm. “Well, it's an idea worth testing! But perhaps that should wait for tomorrow. It must be getting on pretty late by now.” A quick glance around the room for a clock revealed the time: fast approaching midnight. “Don't you have school in the morning?”

He stared at her blankly, like the idea was foreign to him. “Nah, it's a... teacher work day.”

Vivi gave him a skeptical look. “Really?”

He flashed her an angelic smile. “Absolutely! Don't you trust this face?”

She snorted, but couldn't stifle a grin. “I'm not taking any responsibility if truancy officers come a-knocking.”

“I'll keep that in mind,” he laughed, flexing his arm as she finished taping down the gauze pad. “So what comes next? Are you staying here for the night?”

“I need to turn off my cameras and check the footage and instruments I set up earlier. Then I'll probably go back to my van.”

“We have a guest bedroom. Mom didn't offer it? I would think you'd want to stay here so you can witness anything else that happens overnight.”

“Well...” To be honest, she _did_ , but wasn't sure if that was something a real professional would ask for. “I don't want to trouble your parents any more than necessary.”

“It's a real bed, not a fold-out or anything. It's just sitting there waiting to be used.”

Her eyebrow twitched.

“It's got, like, one of those pillow-top mattresses, I think? And the fancy sheets with the big number on them, whatever that means.”

 _Okay, that is unfair temptation._ It had been a long time since she last slept on something other than a worn out mattress on milk-crates. “I suppose... it wouldn't hurt to ask...” she conceded.

“Woo-hoo!” he cheered as he headed for the door, victorious. “I'll ask Mom, I'm sure she'll insist! Plus I should probably show her I'm not mortally wounded,” he added sheepishly.

Vivi shook her head with exasperated amusement after he left, washing her hands thoroughly with hot water, then wiping down the sink and counter. With the water still running, she closed the door to the room and locked it, then sat down on the lid of the toilet.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

“Ohmygodohmygod _ohmygodohmygod_ it's real it's really real it has to be real it's fucking real it's the _real fucking thing_ OH MY GOD!!” She wheezed into her hands, trying to keep the noise down and hoping the running water did a good enough job of covering it up. “Don't tell me it's not real don't tell me it's not, please brain don't find anything wrong with it this time, just let it be real for once please please please _please_! I'm so close, it's so perfect, be real, be real, be real--”

She leaned over, her chin tucked between her knees, rocking forward and back, arguing fervently with floor. “The candles all puffed out on their own, I'm sure of it! I mean I'm pretty sure of it. I didn't feel a draft, anyway. And I communicated with it! It spoke and it wasn't gibberish, it made sense! It answered questions! Some of them, anyway. But someone could have been moving the planchette, it never moved on its own, anyone could have done it, it doesn't _prove_ anything, it's all their word that anything weird has happened at all, a story is worthless, it could all be fake! No, the branch fell through the window! But it's storming, it's windy, it just broke off a tree in the front yard, a coincidence, nothing more. But the timing! What are the odds? Right when I asked what was keeping it here, it attacked Rei! And he was bitten! Classic poltergeist activity! But maybe he just got stabbed by the branch, or maybe he bit himself to fake it, it's still nothing I can't explain away. Stupid brain, why you always gotta be so skeptical? I just want something I can believe in. I just want something real. Why... why is it never real? Why is it never... _real?!_ ”

A sob ripped through her, then another. She shuddered helplessly, tears pouring out beyond her control. She let them come, flushed them out like dirty water in an unused pipe, riding out the storm of emotions. They passed almost as quickly as they came, the hysterics petering out and her shoulders going still, leaving her exhausted and shaky. She stood back up cautiously, making sure her legs would hold her and that she wasn't going to throw up or pass out.

“Well, at least _that's_ over with,” she croaked sarcastically, turning to the sink to clean up her tear-streaked face. The hot water running all this time had steamed up the bathroom mirror, revealing a sentence traced over its smooth surface.

_Can you help me?_

Vivi stared at it. She glanced around the bathroom, which was definitely empty; at the door, which was definitely locked; and back at the message at the mirror, which was definitely there and not a figment of her imagination.

“Someone wrote that there earlier, didn't they,” she finally muttered, reaching up and wiping her hand across the message. It vanished in a swath of reflection, where her reddened eyes stared back. With a sigh, she leaned over the sink and stuck her hands in the water, promptly yelping and turning the cold on. She splashed her face clean, washing away the evidence and freshening up her spirits as well. By the time she floundered about for a towel and dried herself off, she was feeling marginally better.

Her eyes went back to the mirror, as if of their own accord. There, above the place where she had swiped the steam away, was another sentence.

_Will you help me?_

Vivi went very still. That... wasn't there before. Probably. She was _almost_ certain that the entire mirror had already been steamed up, so that any more previously-written messages should have been revealed. This wasn't _really_ the breakthrough that she had been seeking, traveling the country all on her own for an entire year in order to find. Of course it wasn't. Miracles didn't happen, not in the real world. Dreams never came true. Ghosts didn't exist, and they wouldn't ask her for help even if they did.

But if they _did_ exist, and they _did_ ask for her help, she would jump on it in a heartbeat.

“Of course,” she said softly, simply.

Below the cleared swipe, a letter appeared, traced by an invisible finger right before her eyes. Then another, and another, irrefutable and unexplainable.

_Say nothing to the boy._

The towel slipped through her numb fingers, and Vivi didn't blink for a long time. By the time Amanda came and knocked gently at the door, the steam had faded and the message was gone.

* * *

 


	3. The Plot Thickens

The guest bed was as ridiculously luxurious as advertised, and Vivi sprawled across it with all her equipment, not even remotely tired. She had her notebook open, writing her observations in neat little grids as she checked each of the cameras' recordings. Every now and then, she had to pause to shiver as a bolt of excitement electrified her nerves from fingers to toes. _My first real case. My first_ real _case!!_

Most of the video was unremarkable, with one exception. In the den, around the time she'd been using the Ouija board, the digital thermometer displayed a sudden drop in temperature and a couple of books fell off the bookshelf. Grinning, Vivi fished the thermometer out of the pile to confirm the daily low. Her grin promptly vanished.

“Did I grab the wrong one?” she murmured, double checking that it was same one in the den recording. Yes, definitely, she only had one of that brand. And yet, it claimed that the temperature had remained steady. She looked at the video again. The numbers very clearly dropped, in quick succession, by nine degrees. For some reason, her camera recorded the event but the thermometer's memory didn't.

Puzzled, she dutifully recorded the observation anyway, before plugging in anything that needed to charge and clearing off the bed. She needed to recharge her brain, too, if she was going to get to the bottom of this mystery.

* * *

“You made me breakfast?” Vivi asked, touched. “I haven't had a homemade breakfast in... a while.”

Amanda smiled. “Thank you for patching up my son last night. I know he can be a bit of a baby.”

“ _Mom!_ ” Rei yelped in a scandalized tone. She merely smiled and kissed the top of his head as he sat down, the perfect image of a perfect family. Except for Ben, who merely stared blearily at his cup of coffee and looked like he was considering falling asleep at the table.

“Rough night?” Vivi asked as she sat down beside him. He gave her a look that could curdle milk before catching himself.

“So, how long do you think it will take to solve our little problem?” he asked with faux politeness. Vivi immediately sat up straighter.

“I plan to make some phone calls today, look up some records and run a few tests and such. You know, the plain ol' research that I do best?” She smiled hopefully, and after a moment, Ben finally worked up a tired smile back. “I'll get this all sorted out before you know it, I promise.”

“Thank you,” he said as Amanda brought over a hot skillet and dished omelets onto both their plates. “Enjoy your breakfast.”

Vivi tucked right in, shrugging off Rei's inquiries about psychic testing with a “later.” The omelet was delicious, but not very filling, and she stared with longing eyes at the stove where Amanda was frying up some more.

“Seconds?” Ben asked dryly.

“Well, if you're offering...” Vivi replied with barely contained eagerness. Amanda was all too happy to spoil them both with another helping. And another. And another.

Rei stared at her with morbid fascination, still on his first serving. “Where do you put it?”

“What?” she asked, completely unselfconscious. “Your Dad's eating just as much.”

“Yeah, but I'm used to him. I've never seen a _girl_ eat like that.”

“It's good. You're an excellent chef, Amanda!”

“Oh, you're a sweetheart,” she replied with a giggle. “Can we keep you?”

“Uh...”

“ _Mom_ , don't embarrass her, jeez,” Rei cut in, looking pretty embarrassed himself. “She is a _professional_ here for a _job_.”

Vivi snorted into her milk, barely avoiding getting it up her nose.

When at last she couldn't eat another bite, she excused herself back to the guest room and pulled out her phone, laptop and notebook. Time to go down the list.

An internet search for the neighboring unsold lots revealed the building company for the development. The number rang a few times before a pleasant sounding secretary picked up the line. Vivi mentally apologized. That secretary wouldn't sound pleasant for long, if past experience had anything to say about it.

“Yes, I was visiting a friend in the Happy Oaks subdivision and couldn't help admiring the house and location. I might be interested in purchasing a home there, and was hoping you could answer a few questions for me...”

The secretary was delighted to answer the first few generic questions about the neighborhood. She was thrown off a bit when Vivi asked about the historic purpose of the land, but took her seriously enough to look up the answer properly. She sounded honest about the lack of any reported crimes or vandalism in the area. It wasn't until Vivi asked about any accidents or fatalities on the construction sites that she started to sound irritated.

“You said you visited someone who lives in the subdivision?” she asked suspiciously.

“Yes, that's right.”

“Because we haven't sold any there yet. There are a few homes that have finished construction, but they've been on the market for months.”

Vivi blinked. She double checked the addresses and company names to make sure she was even calling the right one. They were correct.

“What was the address of this “friend” you visited?”

“Ah! My mistake! I had the wrong company! I'm so sorry I wasted your time like this, I apologize!” Vivi yelped as she hit the end call button. She stared blankly at the wall, heart pounding. Was the secretary pulling her leg? Was there a paperwork screw-up somewhere? Were the Stalnakers squatting? It was nice to get a result of some kind on her first call, but this wasn't exactly a result she'd ever come across before. Was she going to get the nice family who hired her in trouble? Did they know there'd been a mix-up? Should she say something to them, or...?

_Maybe the whole family are actually ghosts._

“Okay Vivi, let's not leap to the most outrageous conclusion first, okay?” she scolded herself. “What's next on the itinerary? Oh hey, missing persons, how convenient. That ought to clear up any silly doubts.”

It really should have.

Instead, she stared at the missing persons entry with a wrinkled brow and pursed lips, looking for all the world like it had personally offended her honor.

 _Missing_ : Ray Stalnaker, age 16.

The boy in the photo had light brown, wavy hair, but it was definitely him. Last seen by his mother Amanda Stalnaker, the day after he returned from an overseas trip. There was a number to call if anyone had any information, and an address to a town about an hour away. Vivi entered it into her map app and then flopped back on the bed, staring at the ceiling.

_What. The FUCK. Is going on with this case?_

She leaped to her feet, packed up all her equipment back into her duffel bag because she wasn't going to leave it behind, then headed for the stairs. Rei (Ray?) poked his head out from the doorway to his room and eyed her bag.

“You're not leaving, are you?” he asked, flashing her puppy-dog eyes.

“No—I mean, not for long. I'll be back in a few hours, I'm just... heading for the library.”

“Oh,” he replied with a distinct lack of enthusiasm. “All right. See you when you get back?”

“Yeah. Of course.” She gave him an artificial smile before retreating down the stairs, where she had a near identical conversation with Amanda before she could get to the front door. Stepping outside was like walking into a cloud, all chilly and clammy from last night's storm. She could see the branch laying in the front yard where they had moved it, below the trash-bag-covered window. And there at the curb, covered with wet leaves but otherwise just like she had left it, was her beautiful blue home on wheels.

Slipping into the driver's seat was like pulling on a perfectly-sized glove. Vivi set her bag on the floor, breathed in deep, and fastened the seatbelt like some people would wrap themselves in a blanket. “I didn't mean it, baby, you're the only one for me,” she whispered fondly. The engine roared to vibrant life at the turn of the key, ready and raring to go. “We've got a little trip to make today,” she said as she rolled out of the cul-de-sac and pulled up the map on her phone. “Maybe one that will bring some answers instead of only asking more questions.”

* * *

The address led her to a dilapidated looking trailer park. Decaying latticework riddled with weeds skirted the bottom of every other house, with dirt or gravel paths leading up to each door. Vivi strolled through with an eye out for the right house number, taking in the atmosphere. Once upon a time she would have felt distinctly uncomfortable in a place like this. Spending a year living out of van, though, had given her a much wider perspective.

She wasn't sure what to expect. A home sitting empty, or that someone else lived in now, most likely. The trailer still existed, right where it was supposed to, at least. She climbed the steps and peered about, looking for clues. The curtains were closed, but a window was cracked open, and the sound of a television drifted out. Someone was home.

With an intense feeling of trepidation, Vivi lifted her hand and knocked on the door.

The TV went silent. Stumbling steps ran quickly to the door, which flew open so abruptly that Vivi almost lost her balance. A woman with graying blond hair pulled into a messy bun stood before her, staring with enormous, vulnerable eyes. The glimmer of hope in her gaze quickly evaporated into polite emptiness as she straightened up and wrapped her robe more tightly around her. “Yes? Can I help you?”

It was Amanda Stalnaker. A more broken, down-on-her-luck version of her anyway, someone who looked like she hadn't known joy in a long, long time. Vivi's mouth sagged open. Words failed her.

Amanda shifted awkwardly from foot to foot. “Are you... do you...” Her voice dropped down to a whisper. “Are you here about my son?”

Vivi's mouth clicked shut and her mind began to race. “Yes. Yes, I'm a pa— _private_ investigator, and I've been been hired by the Department of Missing Persons to take a closer look at your son's case. Would it be alright if I came in and asked you a few questions?”

The tremor of hope returned to Amanda's eyes. “Yes, yes, please. Come in! Sorry about the mess. Here, let me clear you off a place to sit.” The small living room looked like it had once been tidy and organized, but mail and stacks of paper had begun to pile up across every elevated surface. Amanda removed a few stacks of posters with Rei's face on them from the tiny kitchen table's chairs, gesturing for her to take a seat. “What would you like to know?”

“Well. Uh.” Vivi pulled out her notebook to stall for time while she tried to pull herself together. “Tell me about the last time you saw your son.”

Amanda stared at her clenched hands in her lap. “It was the night he returned from his club trip to Japan. I hadn't seen him for two weeks; it was the longest we'd ever been apart. Ray worked so hard at his after-school jobs to save up enough money to go! I only wish I could have chipped in more.” She fiddled with a thread on her robe. “He came in the door, tired and grinning, and said he'd brought me the best souvenir in the world, something that no amount of money could buy. He... he wasn't making any sense! I let him lead me outside, but there was nothing there. That's when he got mad.” She sighed and bowed her head. “He told me to go back inside, he had to _have a word_ with someone. And I... and I did.” Her knuckles turned white, and Vivi knew that the only reason Amanda wasn't crying at this part was because she had already cried over it so many, many times. “I regret that. I lie awake every night and I _regret that_. Because that's when he disappeared. I poked my head out when it seemed like he was taking too long, and he just... wasn't there.”

“He didn't go stay with one of this club-mates?”

“No. The last any of them had seen of him was at the airport. He didn't want to bum a ride off of anyone, said he'd ride a taxi home. But no one in the taxi service remembered him, and I don't remember seeing what kind of car he must have arrived in. It was too dark.”

“What did he say, exactly? About the gift he brought you?”

Amanda looked up again, and her face was the very picture of worried confusion. “He said--” She shook her head, turning to look at something on the wall beside her. “He said he brought his _father_ home!” Vivi followed her gaze and spotted the framed photo, where a happy family stood in front of the trailer, smiling at the camera. The Amanda in the photo looked more like the version that was, presumably, still at the cul-de-sac house, while Rei looked like he was several years younger. Ben had an arm wrapped around each of them, grinning ear to ear and looking like he couldn't be more proud of his family. He actually looked quite handsome, without the bags of exhaustion under his eyes or the old-fashioned glasses.

“That's why I said he wasn't making any sense,” Amanda finished. “My dearest Ben had a stroke a few years ago. He... died on the way to the hospital.” She bowed her head in grief. “First my love, and now my son. If I don't find him soon I... well. I just hope he's alright.”

Vivi's notebook hit the floor, unnoticed.

_Ben is dead._

_Ben is dead, and I just saw him this morning._

_Ben is my ghost._

_BEN IS MY GHOST!!!_

She bolted to her feet, knocking the chair over behind her. For a second, the world was pixie dust and rainbows and dreams that really did come true and puzzles that always came together perfectly.

A second later, she'd had time to think about it.

“Goodness! Are you all right, miss?”

Vivi stared at her, blinking as the last few things she'd said finally filtered through her brain. “Yes. Yes, I just. Amanda.” She took her hands in her own, trying to be comforting when her mind was miles away and racing hard. “Don't do anything drastic, okay? I'm going to bring your son home. Don't lose hope yet.”

Amanda's hands trembled violently, but she nodded. Vivi breathed a sigh of relief, one potential disaster averted—if she could live up to her promise and crack open this case, at least.

Why would Ben be haunting some upper-class home he'd never been to in life? Why would Rei claim that he'd found him in Japan? That seemed even less likely. Unless... he had dabbled with something dark while he was over there. That sort of made sense, actually; if Rei resurrected or summoned his father's spirit somehow, then perhaps Ben was enslaved to his will and furious about it. The two of them certainly did seem to be at odds, from what she'd seen. But why did Rei disappear before he could show his mother what he had done, without so much as a word? Did he suddenly feel ashamed? How did they end up at the new house?

And _who the FUCK_ was the other Amanda?

* * *

 


	4. Unraveling Webs

“Welcome back!” Faux-Amanda said cheerfully as she opened the front door. Vivi tried not to stare at her too hard. “Did you find anything helpful at the library?”

“Erm. I certainly found... some information,” she replied before the moment could stretch too long. “Anything supernatural happen while I was out?”

“No, everything has been blissfully quiet. I should hope so, after last night! Maybe the ghost is tired?”

 _Ben certainly looked tired,_ Vivi thought to herself. She glanced around the living room, trying to look at it with fresh eyes. It was so different from the trailer home she had just returned from. Back there, every piece of furniture looked like it had a history, all mis-matched and scuffed and repaired and well loved. Here, it looked like something out of a home decorating magazine, tasteful and polished and almost too classy to live in. She hadn't really thought about it before, because her parents' house was much the same way.

“Where are the boys?”

“Ben is taking an afternoon nap, I'm afraid he isn't feeling well. Rei is in his room watching his Japanese cartoons, I think. He spends too much time in there! It wouldn't kill him to get out and socialize with real people.”

_As opposed to you and Ben?_

“Doesn't he socialize at school?”

It was subtle, but Amanda froze for a second. “Well, he keeps to himself, you know. He's shy.”

 _He doesn't go to school_ , Vivi realized. _If he did, someone would have recognized him by now and reported him to Missing Persons._ It was definitely time to have a talk with a certain teenager who knew more than he let on. Preferably without his doting Stepford Mom listening in.

“I'll go see if I can't drag him away from his animes,” she said, batting her eyelashes innocently. “He could hardly wait to spend time with me this morning.”

“Oh, I _know_ ,” Amanda said with a conspiring giggle. “Don't tell him I said this, but I think he's had a little crush on you since he first saw your picture. He practically dragged me to the computer to see your website, when I was first starting to consider that we needed help. I must admit, I thought you were a little young, but it's not like I knew anyone else to call.”

“Well, I'm glad you did, even if you're not the one who chose me. This certainly is proving to be a fascinating mystery!”

“I hope you solve it, my dear,” Amanda said, more soberly this time. “And not that I'm trying to chase you away, but the sooner, the better.” She met Vivi's gaze, and the sudden intensity in her own seemed out of place. “This never should have happened.”

Vivi swallowed. “Uh. _This_ being...?”

The intensity vanished as abruptly as it had appeared. “Why, a haunting in a brand-new house, silly! Honestly, people should be able to sue over something like that! Maybe they can... I should look into that.” She wandered away without so much as a parting word, lost in thought.

“ _O_ kay,” Vivi said, her eyebrows as high as they could go. She adjusted the strap of her duffel bag where it crossed over her shoulder and turned to head up the stairs. “Let's do this thing.”

Before she could finish rapping out “shave and a haircut,” Rei had thrown open the door and hastily straightened back up, smoothing back his hair in a belated gesture to look cool and casual. “Hey, you're back. Does that mean it's time to test me out?”

“I'm not sure I'd phrase it that way, but yes,” she replied, sliding past him into his room and dumping her bag. She had originally meant to do this in a more neutral, less private room, but now it struck her as an opportunity to snoop for clues that was best not to waste. Judging by the way Rei's eyes widened in surprise and he shifted nervously, he hadn't expected her to barge in either. He'd probably never had a girl in his room before, she realized with amusement. _Well, whatever it takes to throw him off balance._

A look around his boy-cave revealed that he wasn't kidding around with the anime obsession. The walls, where they weren't covered with posters of school-girls with huge, glistening eyes, were filled up with bookshelves of DVDs, comic books, and figurines. “Wow, you really have a lot of merchandise, don't you?” It was the only room in the house that looked like someone actually lived there, instead of like it was professionally staged for an open house.

 _Oh my god,_ she realized. _That's it._

The answer hit her so suddenly, she had to take a seat on the bed before she fell over. _This house has never been purchased. It's staged for buyers. The Stalnakers really_ are _squatting. Or at least... Rei is. Because ghosts don't follow the same rules._

Rei sat down beside her on the bed, perhaps a touch closer than was necessary. “Yeah, I'm pretty proud of my collection,” he said with a grin. “I always wanted... I mean. I've been working on it for years!”

 _No offense, kid, but I don't think an after-school job could have earned you enough to visit Japan and still buy all this stuff._ “That's impressive. Wasn't it expensive?”

“Oh, Ben pays for it. We fight a lot, so he tries to buy my love with presents.” He laughed, so casually that Vivi couldn't help but stare at him. “Parents, right?”

 _You're a surprisingly smooth liar._ “Hah. Parents. Why are they so hard to get along with?”

“I know! You get me. Do you have trouble with your parents?”

“They're dead,” Vivi lied with a straight face, not giving him an inch down that road. “So tell me, what all did you do on your Japan trip? I've always wanted to go there, you know, reconnect with my roots?” She gave him a winsome smile. “Paint me a picture.”

Rei lit up like a candle and proceeded to give her the most enthusiastic, disjointed, glorifying, probably-racist account of a foreign country she had ever heard. He saw geishas. He visited comic book stores. He saw school-girls in uniforms. He went up the Tokyo Skytree. He saw a Kabuki performance. He rode bullet trains. He visited shrines and saw shrine maidens. He ate real ramen. He saw a life-size mecha. He went to a maid cafe. He bought strange drinks from vending machines.

“Uh-huh,” she cut him off before he could go on too long. “That sounds _fascinating_ , maybe I should visit sometime! I think my interests would be a bit different from yours, though. Do they have any attractions for the supernatural enthusiast?” She watched his reaction carefully.

“Um.” He stared at the ceiling in thought. “They say there are Tengu sightings at Mount Takao.”

“That's all?”

“All I know of at the top of my head,” he said with a careless shrug. Vivi frowned, unable to tell if he was lying or not. “Anyway, I thought we were going to test me for psychic abilities?”

 _Suspicious. He was more than happy to talk my ear off until I brought that up._ “Of course.” She hopped up and plucked two small figurines, some kind of strange animals, off one of his shelves and placed them at the edge of his desk. “Let's start with telekinesis, since that's the power most commonly associated with poltergeists. I want you to close your eyes and think about something that makes you angry. Just really fucking furious! Let it burn through your mind, and as you do, focus on--” she pointed to one of the figures, “--this critter in particular. Think about how much you want to fling it across the room.”

He grinned. “Okay. This should be fun!” He leaned over, elbows on his knees, and closed his eyes, scrunching up his face in concentration. Vivi waved her hands just to make sure he wasn't peeking, then crouched down and pulled her EMF reader from her duffel bag. It wasn't the most precise or informative of tools, but maybe it would pick up something.

She wandered slowly around the room, passing the meter over everything on his shelves, looking for any spikes above the ambient reading. There was one for a couple of batteries stashed to the side. One for the light switch. One for the alarm clock by the bed. One around the pocket of Rei's cargo pants, probably a cell phone. One for the laptop on his desk. In the end, nothing that couldn't be attributed to a normal electro-magnetic field.

Something on Rei's desk caught her eye. Nudging aside a few DVD cases revealed that, yes, that really was Vivi's face printed out on a piece of paper. Picking it up, she looked it over with an expression that grew more incredulous with each passing second.

_Are things going bump in the night? Do cold spots appear where they can't be explained? Do you feel a presence in the room when no one's there? Call Vivi! As a professional supernatural investigator, I'll treat your case with the gravity it deserves. No gimmicks, no TV crews, just a girl with an open mind who's ready to listen. Check out my website!_

Some of the lines were taken from her website, yes, as was the photo. But she had never made a flier for her business! She turned the paper over, bewildered. It was addressed to the house, and was postmarked a few weeks ago. There was no return address. Did Rei produce this in order to show his Mom?

“Did it move any?” Rei asked, peeking an eye open. “Oh! I guess I left that on my desk.” He laughed a bit sheepishly. “It's not weird that I kept it, is it? Wait, of course it isn't. That's the whole reason you mailed them out! Silly question.”

 _...that_ I _mailed them out?_ Vivi turned it over again, looking for some kind of clue to its maker. “So, this is how you learned about me?”

“Yep. Do you get a lot of business from mass mailing things like that?”

“Oh, just, you know... the occasional hit.” _So, Amanda called me because of Rei, but Rei isn't the one who picked me out from all the other paranormal investigators. Someone else did, and then made this flier so he would see it. Who could it possibly—oh, who am I kidding, it was Ben._

 _I thought I was picked because I appealed to Rei, but that's not quite it, is it? I was picked because I_ would _appeal to Rei._

_A ghost called for a paranormal investigator._

“Should I try again?” Rei asked, looking hopeful.

“What?” _Right, the testing._ “Yeah. Yeah, let's give it a few more tries, then we'll move on to predicting flashcards.” _Gotta keep him distracted, can't let him get suspicious that I'm investigating_ him _as much as anything else._

And once she had spent enough time on these pointless tests that she could safely bow out, it was time to have a proper discussion with her _real_ client.

* * *

She followed the sound of the TV back to the first floor, where she found Ben and Amanda in the living room. She took a deep, steadying breath before she entered, feeling that familiar race of electricity under her skin: adrenaline, pumping through her blood as she stepped up to battle.

Neither of them turned to look at her as she approached, and she realized that Ben was actually asleep on the couch, collapsed against the back of it like a dead man. Fitting. Amanda was staring at the TV, apparently absorbed by the infomercial that was playing. Vivi turned to address her.

“Would it be alright if I had a private word with your husband?”

Amanda didn't respond. Vivi arched an eyebrow, then moved in front of her, blocking her view. Amanda didn't move, didn't so much as blink. Unnerved, Vivi waved a hand in front of her face. Nothing.

“O... kay.” She took a step back and bumped into the coffee table, causing a bowl of fake fruit to clatter loudly. Ben stirred with a grunt, opening his eyes and raising his head up slowly like it pained him.

“Oh! Hello, dear, I didn't hear you come in,” Amanda said cheerfully, making Vivi spin back around to face her, eyes wide. “How did it go? With Rei,” she added with a salacious wink.

“Professionally,” Vivi blurted out. “I mean. He did not show any evidence of psychic abilities at this time. Though he definitely was willing to keep trying, if that meant I would keep him company for longer.”

“I can imagine! Poor boy, he's such a sweetheart really when you get to know him, but he's so blah blah blah blah...” Amanda prattled on, an inane stream of praise for her son which Vivi completely tuned out, instead turning her head slowly until she could see Ben out of the corner of her eye. He was watching her with a piercing intensity, though his expression was neutral as always. She met his gaze and didn't blink.

“You know what?” Amanda said with a sudden, startling clap of her hands. “I think I'll go get started on dinner! Why don't you two have a friendly chat while I'm gone, okay?” She promptly turned and walked away, as if she had picked up on some silent signal to leave. Vivi watched her go with eyebrows high, then turned back to resume her staring contest, dropping her bag and settling down stiffly into the chair Amanda had just left.

“So.” _How do I even begin to approach this?_

“So,” he said back, with a pleasant smile that didn't meet his eyes. “How did your research go?”

“I learned a lot of really interesting things.”

“Oh really? _Do_ go on.”

“Did you know that this house hasn't actually been sold yet?”

“Nonsense. Merely a delay in paperwork, I'm sure.”

She blinked. He was denying it? “There is a woman who looks just like Amanda, looking for her missing son, Ray.”

“Twin sister. Different Rei. They're spelled differently, aren't they?”

Her mouth clicked shut. Why was he arguing? Wasn't he the one who wanted her help, ultimately? “Do you remember taking a trip to the hospital, a few years ago?”

“I have no memory of such a thing.” He was smirking, now, his eyes cold.

She jutted out her lower jaw. “Someone made a flier about me and mailed it to this house.”

“Really? How mysterious.”

She growled. “I _know_ you're behind this. You want my help. Why are you denying everything? Why won't you talk to me?”

For a moment, it seemed like the room grew darker. Ben sat up straighter, raised his chin and stared down his nose at her. Somehow Vivi got the impression that he was towering over her, even though he was sitting down. An impression of something with great power and dignity, forced to grovel on the ground and loathing every moment of it.

“You can't, can you?” she said softly.

The moment passed, and Ben was just a tired man sitting across the room from her, watching her cautiously.

“You're not allowed. Rei somehow has power over you, and he won't permit it.”

Ben's smile softened, and it finally reached his eyes. He collapsed back against the couch, relief obvious in the lines of his shoulders.

Vivi ran her hands through her hair, feeling the sudden weight of responsibility. “So, how can I free you, if you can't tell me what you need?”

“I guess you'll just have to solve the mystery,” he said matter-of-factly.

“How?” she moaned, tugging a few locks of hair.

“By doing your homework.”

“Can't you give me any hints?” she whined, then felt ashamed of herself. “No, of course you can't. I'm sorry, just... let me think. I'm sure I can figure this out.” She took a deep breath, hands at her temples as she leaned her elbows on her knees. “What do I know? There are two Amandas. This one is... fake, somehow. She's... your creation? She seemed like she was _turned off_ while you were asleep.” She glanced at Ben's face, but he wasn't giving anything away, aside from a faint air of approval. “You control her, but you made her a doting mother who only seems to care about her son. She even yells at you when you fight with Rei! She's like the mother a teenager would wish for.”

Vivi inhaled sharply through her nose, then lifted her head, staring around the house. “All of this is like something a teenager would wish for. A perfect family in a perfect house. No school. All the toys he ever wanted. You're granting him _wishes._ Are you a _genie?!_ ”

Ben snorted before he could catch himself. He seemed amused.

“Maybe... maybe not, then?” Vivi asked, fighting off a blush. “Genies aren't from Japan, anyway. But still... you don't have _anything_ to do with his father's ghost, do you?”

Ben merely stroked his chin, unable to confirm or deny anything she said. But his eyes were watching her expectantly.

“Wait. Wait, I asked you about the trip to the hospital after his stroke and you said _I have no memory of that._ That _was_ a hint. Because you're not him. You're just holding his place in this fantasy. And that's why Rei keeps getting in fights with you, because you're not playing the perfect role that Amanda is.” She thought about her visit with the real Amanda, and what she had said about her brief encounter with her son before he disappeared. “He went to Japan, and brought you home with him. He tried to present you to his mother as her dead husband, miraculously returned. But you hid from her.” She imagined the scene if he hadn't, the disbelief and the hope and the heartbreak Amanda would have suffered when the truth came out. “That was... probably very kind.”

Not-Ben looked sadly at the floor.

“But that refusal must have royally pissed him off, I'm guessing. After that, you two came here with the fake Amanda.” She pondered over that. “Why doesn't he wish for a perfect, fake Ben, too? Unless...” Her eyes widened. “He doesn't know she's fake?”

Vivi stood up slowly, in time with her dawning revelation. “He thinks you brainwashed his mom. He thinks you conjured up this house out of nothing, doesn't he? He keeps demanding the impossible from you, and you're wearing yourself out trying to do what you can. You needed help, so you faked a poltergeist in order to get it. And Rei... does he think it's real? Or did he _order_ you to fake the poltergeist, after seeing my flier, in order to fool his mother, because he thinks she's real?” Vivi sat down again, amazed. “You're running a convoluted game here. Clever.”

Not-Ben tipped his head, a faint bow.

“So in order to help you, all I need to do is figure out what you are, because then I'll be able to figure out how Rei is controlling you!” Vivi clenched her fist in triumph, stars in her eyes, then slowly wilted. “Well, fuck. Despite what I look like, I don't know _anything_ about Japanese mythology. I don't even know enough to narrow down where to start.”

“I've given you what hints I can,” he said softly. “I can't help it if you didn't follow up on all of them.”

Vivi pursed her lips and glared down at her duffel bag. _Hints I didn't pursue, huh?_ Leaning over, she rifled through the tools of her trade until she found her notebook and pulled it out. _I write everything down in here. What clue did I pass over?_

She flipped through, scanning the contents of each page. Her initial thoughts on the case. The transcript she wrote out from memory of the Ouija session. The readings from every instrument she set up through the house. The phone calls she made and websites she visited for information. Everything she gleaned from visiting Real-Amanda at the trailer home. The long string of negative results for Rei's psychic testing. _What am I missing?_

Glancing up at Not-Ben, she found him focused intently on a point on the ceiling. Vivi followed his gaze, but there was nothing there. Not on this floor, anyway. Vivi formed a mental blueprint of the second story, trying to figure out which room would lie above that spot. The den.

The den. The only place where something odd happened while Ben was casually pushing the planchette around the Ouija board. What had she not followed up on? The temperature had dropped, but not really. It only appeared that it had, a trick for the camera. And some books had fallen down. Had she ever picked those up? No, they weren't on the floor when she retrieved the camera, she would have noticed. Which books were they? Was that important at all?

Vivi picked up one of her cameras, checking that the recording was still there. “If you'll excuse me, Mr. Mystery,” she said as she stood up, “I think I need to go check something out.”

“Please, “Just Mystery” is fine for me,” he replied with a grin and a shooing motion. “Go do your magic.”

* * *

 


	5. The Case Blows Wide Open

She took the stairs two at a time, then tiptoed past Rei's door, not wanting to catch his attention just yet. The den was quiet and dark, its bookshelves filled with a few artistically arranged groupings of old-looking, hardback books. No personal collection here, this was all stuff chosen at random by the staging company. Vivi examined her camera and found the scene where the books fell off, comparing it to the real thing. A purple book from this shelf. A red book from that shelf. Vivi put the camera down and pulled both books out, comparing them.

As far as subject matter went, they were unrelated and not to her taste. One was a collection of classic children's morality stories, while the other was a historical account of German espionage during World War II. Only their covers shared anything remotely in common, but what they did came through loud and clear.

The copy of “The Fables of Aesop” had an illustration of a fox on the front, and the other was book was boldly titled “The Game of the Foxes.”

_Books about foxes, and a temperature drop of exactly nine degrees._

“Good hint,” she whispered as she flopped onto the floor and whipped out her smart phone. “Come on, Wikipedia, don't fail me now.”

 _Kitsune._ In Japan, the legends said that any fox, if it lived long enough, would begin to gain supernatural powers. The older and wiser and more powerful they became, the more tails they grew, up to nine in total. There were two main types; Good foxes, who served the _Kami_ Inari, and Field foxes, who often played tricks. _Rei said he visited shrines. I'd bet anything that at least one was a shrine to Inari._

Fox spirits loved freedom more than anything, and hated being locked away or forced to do things. They could take on human form, even copying someone's appearance. There were many different powers mentioned in various legends, such as taking possession of young girls, or creating extremely realistic, tangible illusions. _Like Fake-Amanda._ They could make a pile of leaves look like money, which was probably how all of Rei's collection was bought. _Did I really eat a stack of omelets this morning, or was it a salad in disguise?_

Vivi skipped about in the article, passing over bits and pieces about fox spirits marrying humans or how to tell if someone was really a fox spirit in disguise. _I don't care about that, I want to know what can force a fox to serve someone!_ And there it was, plain as day: the _Hoshi no Tama._

A fox spirit carried around a magical pearl known as a Star Ball that they couldn't live without. In their true form they carried it with them, often in their mouth, but not when they were transformed or possessing someone. It was speculated that the ball contained their soul, or part of their power. Whatever the case, it was important, and if someone got their hands on it, the fox would be at their mercy.

Vivi's mind raced, trying to remember if she saw anything like that while she was in Rei's room. Nothing came to mind, though. He probably kept it on his person at all times, if he had any sense. It didn't sound like things ended well for humans who lost the upper hand.

_It's gotta be in his pants pocket. Always close at hand to threaten, always impossible for Mystery to steal back. It even registered on my EMF reader, now that I think about it. I assumed it was a cell phone, but why would Rei have one? He'd have been found by now if he called anyone. So the big question is: how do I get this thing off of him?_

A brief image flickered in her mind of trying to seduce him into bed. Vivi made a face and retched a little. _Please don't let it come to that._

After picking up her camera and putting the books back, Vivi peeked into the hallway. The door to Rei's room was open now, no sounds coming from within. There were voices carrying from downstairs, though. She tiptoed down a few steps, listening in.

“I really like her. She's nice and cool and she listens to me. And she's really pretty.” It was Rei's voice.

“Okay. So?” Ben replied.

“So I want her to like me back. All she cares about is ghosts. Make her like me, too.”

“I already did what I could. You asked me to make her notice you, and she did.”

“You _bit_ me!”

“It worked, didn't it? She nursed your wound and spent hours with you today, didn't she?”

“But she doesn't _like_ me! I want her to put her junk down and make out!”

“You have to get to that point on your own, just like with any girl.”

“You made Mom do what I want! Just do the same thing!”

Vivi crouched down low as she slid down a few more steps, until she could see. Rei was leaning menacingly over Ben—Mystery—who was glaring up at him from the couch, every muscle tense. “Vivi is an innocent bystander. I'm not making her one of your puppets.”

Rei sneered, his hand dipping down to his pocket. _I was right!_ Vivi thought, only to be puzzled by what he pulled out. It wasn't remotely like a ball or a pearl, more like a set of metal pliers. Whatever it was, Rei flipped it around with casual menace, like a punk with a butterfly knife.

Sudden recognition finally hit her, and she couldn't help but snarl internally. _That... little... FUCKER!_

It was a nutcracker.

“You sure about that?” Rei asked again, coldly.

Vivi wasn't entirely sure what happened, but two seconds later she was in the living room, slamming into Rei's chest and knocking them both to the floor, only narrowly missing the coffee table. “What— _Vivi?!_ ” Rei wheezed in shock, obviously confused about how to feel over the fact that a girl was on top of him, pawing at his clothes, but while angry and _hurting_ him. She took a second to wrench the nutcracker from his grip and toss it across the room, then went back to trying to get into the pocket of his cargo pants.

That apparently finally got through to Rei's brain, because he shoved her off into the coffee table, which slid across the rug into the armchair. “What the _fuck?_ ” he shouted, his voice high.

“What is going _on_ in here?” Amanda called as she ran in from the kitchen, a hand pressed dramatically over her heart. “Rei, are you alright?” She knelt down and wrapped her arms under his shoulders, as if to help him to his feet, but conveniently restraining his arms in such a way that he couldn't reach his pocket. “Are you two _fighting?_ ”

“Mom, let go!” Rei cried as he struggled in her grasp, frustrated. “You're not helping!”

Vivi lunged for his legs again, only to get a sock-footed heel to the face. She recoiled with a wordless snarl of pain, her glasses skittering across the floor. Mystery slid down from the sofa and grabbed Rei's flailing legs, trying his best to hold him still even though he looked so ill that stiff breeze could knock him over. Vivi shook off the pain and tried again, wrestling the pocket open and slipping her hand in even as Rei's thrashing went up another notch. There was something round inside, though not perfectly smooth. She managed to just barely catch it between two fingers and pull it out.

For a second, Vivi thought she'd made a mistake. This was no magic pearl, it was just a cheap video game character keychain! Some kind of blue ghost with ridiculously pointed shades and a bright yellow tongue. But Mystery's eyes locked on it with an undeniable hunger, and Rei finally stopped sounding angry and started sounding frightened _._

“Are you trying to get me _killed?_ ” he hissed in a shrill squeak, his eyes as wide as they could go. With a sudden burst of adrenaline he ripped out of his captors' arms and lunged out a hand at her, which she had to throw herself backwards to avoid. “ _Give it back!_ ”

“Like hell!” Vivi shouted as she crawled backwards and turned over, trying to get to her feet. But Rei was bigger, faster, and fueled by desperation. He grabbed the nearest object he could find, the now-empty fruit bowl that had been knocked off the coffee table during their struggles, and hit her with it.

Vivi shrieked with pain and shocked surprise. “Give it!” Rei yelled as he made a grab for her hands, so she tucked them in close and curled up in a ball. Rei roared in frustration and stood up, kicking at her back and starting to really lay into her with the bowl. It _hurt_ , and tears pricked at the corners of her eyes. She'd never gotten in a real fight before, and she had no idea what to do, except to curl up tighter around what he wanted and try to endure.

“It's not _yours!_ ” was all she could whimper out.

A shadow suddenly blocked the light from her face, and the pain stopped. Rei's angry grunts and the sound of blows were still going, though, and Vivi couldn't stop herself from taking a cautious peek. Her eyes flew open wide and she uncurled a bit, staring.

Mystery was stretched out over her, wincing against the blows but for the most part, just staring back at her with a strange look on his face. Incomprehension. Like he just couldn't understand why she was going this far for him. The bowl finally broke into pieces over his head and it didn't even seem to phase him. He just kept staring at her with that look, his eyes wide and his eyebrows drawn together.

Vivi uncurled a little more, lifting her hand with the disguised star ball in it, and pressed the ball against Mystery's lips.

It glowed, and the false human form above her burst into brilliant light, melting and shifting and shrinking and growing. The arms on either side of her head grew skinnier, longer, while the head above her stretched out on the end of a long neck covered with a thick ruff of fur. Fangs and jagged teeth formed around the star ball, and Vivi hastily yanked her hand away. Graying streaks of hair turned into red ones, and the pair of pince-nez glasses resettled along the middle of a long, canine nose. Enormous tails thrashed into being; four of them, whipping about with a graceful beauty that stole her breath away. Ben was no more. In his place was a creature of legend.

Rei stumbled backwards, collapsing as his knees lost their strength. “Shit,” he whimpered, fear choking his voice. “Shit, shit, shit, _shit!_ ” Mystery rounded on him, fluid like a snake, a horrendous growl rising from his throat. His eyes glowed a menacing red as he stalked his prey, ready to unleash a torrent of pain and suffering.

 _Crap_ , Vivi thought with a regretful sigh as she tried and failed to sit up. _He's not going to like this._ “Don't hurt him,” she called out.

Mystery snarled as he turned back to face her, looking for all the world like he might attack her for it. Who was _she_ , after all, to impose human morals on him and deny him his vengeance?

“I promised his mother,” she said simply.

Rei's eyes darted from beast, to girl, to the illusion of his mother who was sitting limply where she had fallen after Rei shook her off, a neglected puppet. Mystery panted loudly, great bellowing puffs that filled the room as he struggled with her request. He shook his head wildly from side to side on his long neck. His tails thrashed and twitched with fury. He howled with frustration, ears back and teeth exposed. Rei cowered, spit streaming from his gibbering lips.

Then Mystery raised his head, ears up and eyes intent. Fake-Amanda stirred to life again, glancing about the room in apparent confusion, then crawling over in front of Rei, as if to shield him. Rei looked up, grateful, until he saw the grin that bared the fox-spirit's teeth.

“No,” he whispered as comprehension bloomed in his eyes.

Mystery leaped, teeth snapping down at the corner of Amanda's shoulder and neck. She screamed, bright red blood streaming down her torso before she was swiftly dragged into the kitchen in a blur of tails. “ _NO!!_ ” Rei shrieked as he tried to leap to his feet, but could only stumble to his knees instead. “ _Mom!!_ ”

Amanda's pained cries and pleas were frighteningly realistic; Vivi had to fight down the urge to vomit even though she knew the whole thing was an illusion. Rei had no such knowledge, though, and tears were pouring down his face. “Momma!” he choked out, voice cracking as he stumbled after them, slipping and falling face first into the blood trail. He sobbed as he crawled back up again. Vivi followed in morbid fascination, a hand over her mouth, the pain of her developing bruises forgotten. In the kitchen, Mystery looked over his shoulder at Rei while a shaking hand flailed weakly against his blood-dribbled ruff.

“Wh-what... are you?” came the rasping, confused cries. “Oh god, stop! But d-don't... hurt my baby!”

Mystery snarled and picked up Amanda's flailing body again, dragging her out the other doorway and into the hall. Rei finally managed to get his feet under him and pursued, veering wildly from side to side and mostly pulling himself from one counter to the next.

“Momma,” he whimpered as he followed the blood trail down the hallway, reaching out a shaking hand as he caught a glimpse of fox feet and thrashing limbs heading up the staircase. Amanda let out another scream, and Rei began to cry with all his might, deep racking sobs that tore through his throat. “Momma I'm so sorry! I just... I didn't mean to go so far! I never meant to hurt you! Momma!!”

From somewhere upstairs, Amanda's screams turned to gurgles and the sound of struggling stopped. Rei paused, staring at the ceiling with wide eyes, then he collapsed to floor. “I'm so sorry I'm so sorry I'm so sorry,” he moaned between hiccups and tears. Vivi found that she was crying too, in sympathy. It was just too much.

At last, padded paws on long brown legs walked softly back down the stairs. Rei watched the fox's approach with empty eyes, all hollowed out. Mystery glared at him without a hint of mercy, perhaps judging to see if he'd suffered enough. He bared his teeth, coated in the illusion of blood, and Rei crumpled over on the floor, consciousness failing him.

Mystery watched for a moment longer, then nodded. The red streaks that painted his fur vanished like they had never been, and he looked up to meet Vivi's gaze. He cocked his head, probably noticing her tears. “Do you think I went too far?” he asked curiously, cautiously. His voice sounded unchanged, despite the rest of his appearance.

Vivi shrugged stiffly. “I don't know. You were going to kill him if I hadn't said anything, weren't you?”

Mystery's ears went back, and he bowed his head. “I... don't... know? I was so angry. He—he was killing me! I couldn't—he had half of my magic, and I was running out! And he always threatened to—but I've never killed a human before, I'm not—it was within my _rights!_ ” His tails thrashed and drooped in turns, further betraying his conflicted emotions.

Vivi edged closer, crouching down to check on the boy. He was fast asleep, his face blotched and pale but breathing okay. “How did all this even happen?”

Mystery flopped down, his head on his paws. “He seemed so nice at first. He'd gotten separated from his tour group at the shrine and he was scared. He couldn't read any of the signs and there wasn't anyone around who spoke English and his Japanese was _abysmal_. I tried to point him in the right direction, but instead of following my directions he kept following my voice. Since I was trying to hide, that just got him more lost!” He gave a small, half-hearted laugh. “Eventually I gave up and showed myself, figuring it couldn't hurt that much. He was surprised, of course, but I helped him spot his tour group again. Then he thanked me, and asked if there was anything he could do in return. I... got greedy. I saw an opportunity.”

Vivi sat down against the wall with a wince, fascinated. “An opportunity?”

Mystery gave her a sad puppy-dog face. “I wanted to _go._ See the world, do what I want! But there was no way I could sneak away from Inari's reach, not without help. I would have to take my _hoshi-no-tama_ with me. It's... part of me.” He yawned, and when his tongue uncurled, the ball was there again, this time pure white and shimmering softly. He placed it gently within the grip of his paws. “I can't _possibly_ leave it behind. But its touch reveals my true self. No illusion can disguise me, not if I'm carrying it in any way.”

“So you conspired with him?”

“Yes, exactly,” he said with a grin. “When it was time for him to return home, he carried my _hoshi-no-tama_ onto the plane disguised as a souvenir, so that I could sneak aboard under an illusion. It went flawlessly! I was ecstatic to set foot in a new country, far away from my—well, certain... obligations,” he finished lamely. “I even—and you are _never to breathe a word of this—_ carried him home on my back under the cover of night.” He glared at her.

“Mum's the word,” Vivi said with an amused smile.

“But when we reached his home, he asked me for one more favor before he returned my _tama_.” Mystery's ears went back, his face troubled. “He showed me a photo of his late father and asked me to take his form, then to wait. When I realized he was bringing out his mother to see me, though, I hid. I knew doing such a thing would be a terrible idea. That's when Rei finally showed his true colors, and that he had no intention of letting me go,” he finished with a growl.

“I'm sorry,” Vivi said softly. “I can't imagine what you've been through. I hope this hasn't ruined your impression of humans forever.”

“Well.” He flashed her a toothy smile. “Not all humans.” Standing back up, he surprised her by bowing his head. “Vivi, I called you out of desperation, but I never really held much hope that you would save me. You... amazed me.” His eyes grew wistful. “I wish I had the ability to heal you. But even if I did, it will take me years to regain the magic I’ve lost. ”

Vivi gave him a half-smile back. “It's okay. I don't think anything's broken or battered that serious, anyway. But I guess it would be a good idea to start keeping ice packs in my first aid kit, huh?” She looked down at her hands, then met his eyes again. “You know, if you want to see the world... I... travel a lot.”

Mystery's eyes widened. He hastily looked away, looking almost flustered. “Thank you. Really. But I'm—I don't think I can bear to pretend to be a human again for a long time.”

Vivi blushed. “No, I meant, like... I could use a... dog?”

He gave her a sour, offended look. “I am a _fox_. Not a _dog_.”

“Sorry! But, you know, the offer still stands.”

He gave her a long, considering look. “I _am_ grateful,” he said at last. “I owe you a huge debt, and I promise to repay it.” He snapped up his ball and turned to look longingly across the hallway, through the living room's window and to the outdoors beyond. It seemed like something was missing, and Vivi realized that the trashbag over the window was gone. Even the broken window had been an illusion. “But right now, I don't want to be chained to anyone or anything. I'm _finally_ free, for real this time, and I'd like to get out there and experience it on my own.”

“Alright. I can totally understand that.” Vivi climbed painfully to her feet again and gave him a solemn nod. “Go on, live life to the fullest!”

Mystery smiled, his ears twitching, and turned smoothly to leave, tails swishing behind him.

“Oh, but wait! One last thing before you go!” Vivi cried out, belatedly. The fox paused, turning to look at her with a questioning eye.

Vivi kicked the softly snoring body at her feet. “Help me get this dead-weight in the passenger seat?”

* * *

 


	6. Going Home

It wasn't until Vivi left the smoothness of the highway, almost to her destination, that Ray finally stirred. He observed his situation passively, taking in the van, its driver, and the zip-ties holding his wrists to the arm rests, just in case. His head lolled over to look out the window, where the scenery had to be familiar to him. He gave a great sigh. “Why are you taking me here?”

“Because it's your home,” Vivi replied.

Ray opened his mouth like he wanted to argue, then decided it wasn't worth the effort. He just stared listlessly as the landscape rolled by. Vivi didn't bother to explain any further. He might not believe her if she tried.

She pulled into the trailer park, this time knowing exactly where to go. As she came to a stop, she honked the horn several times, earning a puzzled frown from Ray. She pointedly ignored him, instead leaning over to clip the ties that bound him. The front door to the house opened, and as a figure stepped out, Ray's eyes widened like saucers. His mouth sagged.

“ _Mom?_ ” he whispered, aghast. He scrabbled for the passenger door handle, ripping off the seatbelt when he realized it was still holding him back. As he stumbled from the van, Amanda's hands shot up to her mouth, her face pulling into a grimace of grief and joy.

“Ray?!” she shouted as she burst into tears, almost falling down the steps in her rush to close the distance between them.

“You're _alive!_ ”

“You're _okay_ , oh, my _baby!_ ”

They collided in the middle of the gravel walkway, hugging fiercely and wailing so loudly that the neighbors were peering out to see what was going on. It wouldn't take long until everyone in the trailer park knew that the missing Stalnaker son had returned home.

“Where have you been?” Amanda choked out between sobs.

“I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry,” was the only thing Ray could say. He buried his face in her chest like a small child while the two of them sank to the ground, rocking and clinging to each other like driftwood in a storm. Vivi watched them with a troubled expression, uncertain what to call the swirling emotions that were currently eating at her gut. She had fulfilled her promise and brought him home. They would still have issues, no doubt. _God_ , would Ray ever have issues. But maybe, just _maybe_ , they would work past them and become a functional family again.

Quietly, Vivi shifted out of park and slipped away before she could be noticed—just like she had done once before, somewhere else, a year ago. After all, this wasn't her reunion. She barely had any business being here.

But maybe...

Maybe it was high time she had a reunion of her own.

* * *

It was three weeks later before Vivi parked the van in front of her parents' house and stared apprehensively at the path up the perfectly manicured lawn. It was a long drive, after all, and she had other things to do. Like wait for her bruises to heal. She wasn't going to show up looking like she needed _help_.

Trying not to feel like she was taking a walk of shame, Vivi crossed the yard and climbed the steps to the front door. Her palms were sweaty as she knocked. She tried to wipe them subtly on her sweater as she waited nervously for someone to answer the door. What if they weren't even home right now? Boy, she sure would feel silly if it turned out that--

The door flew open, and Vivi's mother stood there staring at her with wide eyes. She didn't say anything. Vivi fidgeted and said nothing either. Would her mother slam the door in her face? She could be rather petty when angry. How... how angry was she?

“DEAR!” she suddenly shouted, making Vivi jump. “You'd better get over here!”

The urgency in her voice came through loud and clear, and Vivi's father thundered to the door so fast she almost feared he'd be carrying a baseball bat. He joined his wife in staring at his errant daughter in quiet shock, gripping the door frame so hard his knuckles were turning white.

Vivi squirmed under their unblinking eyes. “So,” she finally began, just to break the silence, “first of all, I guess, I probably should have sent you more than three postcards.” No reaction, other than her mother's jaw twitching. “That was... yeah. My bad. I apologize for that.” She took an unsteady breath and forced on a smile. “But I've been doing great! Traveling the country, seeing the sights, living the adventure! It's been amazing! Very educational. Very... character building. Um.” She rubbed the back of her neck, looking at anything and everything that wasn't her parents' twin laser-focused beams of disapproval. “And also, I guess, I should apologize for disappearing in the middle of the night. Without so much as a goodbye. Or a note.” She was starting to crack under the pressure, now, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. She peeked up, biting at her lip and finally shedding the last vestige of her carefree facade.

“Mom. Dad. I'm not sorry that I left. But I _am_ sorry that I ran away.”

Her parents exchanged glances before looking back at her. “You just _disappeared_ off the face of the Earth, like one of your ghosts,” her mother finally spoke, the pain raw in her voice.

“I'm sorry.”

“We called the bookstore to see if any of your co-workers knew where you went, only to find out that you had already quit and collected your last paycheck!”

“I'm sorry.”

“You told us you took a gap year so you could recharge your batteries, not so you could put off college long enough to enact an escape plan!”

“I’m sorry?”

“We didn't even know you _had a van_ until the insurance statement arrived in the mail!”

“I'm sorry!” Vivi cried, tugging nervously on her sweater. “But you never _once_ took my wishes _seriously!_ ”

“Because they were _ridiculous_ \--”

“Dear,” her father interrupted, “that's enough.”

Vivi stared at her father in surprise, while her mother sulked but didn't resume her tirade. He wrapped an arm around his wife to soothe her hackles, never taking his eyes off his daughter. “It's true. We didn't. We always thought your obsession with ghosts was merely a flight of fancy, something you'd grow out of. And even if we _had_ understood, we would never have approved of you pursuing a career into such... uncharted territory.” He sighed. “But I think you've always been more of a firecracker than we could ever hope to handle. Our priorities in life were never the same. I'd hate to see you burn out quick, honey, of course I would; I'm your _father_. But even so.” His eyes began to twinkle, and Vivi felt her heart soar as his lips pulled into a smile “I _love_ to see the way you shine.”

Her mother's lip puckered as she tried to keep her frown, but even she gave a tiny nod in agreement. Vivi's smile blossomed slowly until she was grinning so hard her cheeks hurt, and found that for some reason she couldn't stop crying. “You guys,” she squawked out, before they opened their arms and she rushed in for a hug. “I can't believe it!”

“I expect you to be a paragon of moral virtue, at least,” her mother sniffled, which was basically her way of conceding defeat.

“Yeah, yeah,” Vivi laughed.

“Alright, that's quite enough tears,” her father said with pretend gruffness, his own eyes hardly dry. “Why don't you show us this van of yours?” His voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper, which made her mother roll her eyes. “I always longed to take off and tour the world when I was young, but I never had quite your courage. I insist you let me live vicariously through you.”

Vivi all too happily led them down to where she was parked on the curb, hand in hand with both of them and feeling like a child again. “Ta-da!” she gestured proudly, opening up the back doors and showing off her ever growing collection of electronics and mystical trinkets, her organizational system, her sleeping setup, and her map of pins. She had a red pin now, she made sure to point out. A genuine, honest-to-god encounter with a supernatural entity. Her mother looked shocked.

“Dad, what are you doing?” Vivi yelped as he slid into the driver's seat, and she scurried around to catch the door. “Your adventures are to be strictly vicarious! Nobody drives my van but me!”

“I'm just looking,” he said with a teasing grin. “It's a good vehicle. Sturdy. So I'm just curious, can you actually see over the wheel without this seat cushion?”

“ _Dad._ ”

“I'm kidding. It's very comfortable, I bet it helps a lot on long drives. I like your rear-view mirror charm, too, that's cute. Boo, isn't it? From the Mario games?”

Vivi glanced over, unable to remember anything of that description dangling from the mirror. She blinked, then stared, her eyes growing wider. It was a keychain of a blue ghost with pointed shades and a yellow tongue, and it was definitely not supposed to be there. At the same time, she heard her mother call out from around the side of the van:

“Is this your dog, Vivi? You didn't mention that you got a dog.”

Vivi rounded the van so fast she went sliding across the hood. There, paw-in-hand and playing shake with her mother, was a medium-sized dog with identical fur to the fox-spirit she hadn't expected to see again until she was a ripe old age.

“Oh! He's so well trained,” her mother said with a smile. “What's his name?”

Vivi managed to get her mouth to click shut. “That... would be Mystery. Because he is just _so full of surprises._ ”

“He's darling,” she replied, already enchanted. “I'll tell you what, as long as he behaves, I'll let you bring him in the house.”

Mystery didn't look nearly as enchanted with her pronouncement, but he tolerated the pats on the head well enough. He watched Vivi cautiously from the corner of his eye, obviously unsure of how she would take his sudden reappearance.

“Hey, guys?” Vivi called out to her parents, trying to sound nonchalant. “If you would go ahead and fix up a spot for me in the guest room, I'm just gonna... take a moment to gather up an overnight bag.”

Her mother gave her a flat look, arching a finely plucked brow. “Don't be silly, darling. You don't need to use the guest room. We've always kept your bedroom clean and waiting for you.” Her expression softened into something more gentle. “No matter how short or long you plan to stay.”

“I... thanks, mom,” Vivi said, swallowing hard.

Her parents headed slowly back into the house, and Vivi waited until the door had clicked shut behind them before she turned to face her unexpected new pet. “So,” she said.

“So,” he replied.

“What happened to experiencing freedom on your own?”

He pawed the pavement bashfully. “There's only so much you can see when you have to keep yourself hidden all the time. And there's only so much you can relax when you don't have a safe place to keep your stuff. And since you travel around everywhere but keep your belongings safe and sound in there, I thought... maybe... I could just...”

“I see.”

“It's still strictly my property, of course! I'm not giving it to you! And I'd appreciate it if you don't touch it or anything. Ever. But if you could just, like... _rent_ that spot under your mirror to me... I'd really--”

“Mystery.”

“...Yes?”

Vivi crouched down so she could look him eye to eye, a faint smile on her face. “I'm honored that you trust me with this. I'll keep it safe for as long as you want.”

Mystery looked relieved. “And your offer is still good? For traveling the world?”

She grinned. “Well, maybe not the whole world, but at least a good chunk of it. And of _course_ it is!” Mystery's smile lit up his face, and Vivi couldn't help herself: she leaned in and hugged him. She worried for a second that he would take offense to it, but his single tail was wagging hard, so she snuggled into his fur with a happy sigh.

“I have an ulterior motive, though,” he confessed.

“Oh really?” she asked playfully as she pulled away. He slipped past her into the privacy of the back of the van, hopping up on her bed and transforming back into his true self. Vivi hastily pulled the doors shut around her, blocking out the view from outside.

“Check it out,” Mystery said proudly, waving his long tails in front of her. Vivi reached out and touched them before she could even think about it, trying to figure out what it was she was supposed to notice.

“Oh,” she exclaimed as it hit her. “You have five now.”

“Yep! It would seem,” he said with a tilt of his head, eyes fond, “that my experience with you was... educational.”

“I see.” She let go of the tails regretfully as they swished away. “So... one might say that ours could be a mutually beneficial partnership.”

“Oh?”

She grinned widely. “I hope you realize, I'm going to hit you up for every single drop of knowledge you have about the supernatural.”

“That's a whole lot of drops,” he admitted as he transformed back. But he stuck out his paw, and—feeling a little silly and rather giddy with excitement—Vivi shook it.

“I figure, with you on my side, perhaps I can finally find a _real_ ghost!”

“You get your very own kitsune partner, and all you care about is finding a measly _ghost?!_ ”

“What can I say, I'm dedicated!” She grabbed her overnight bag and they hopped out, pausing only long enough to lock the van up tight. “Oh, and before I make things awkward: since you're a dog now, does that mean I can pet you?”

“I don't know... since I'm a dog now, do I get to sleep in your bed with you?”

She snorted. “No fucking way!”

Laughing, the two of them headed up the path to her parents' house, a brief respite they meant to enjoy before the world called its runaways back to the road.

 

The End

[](http://tyigra.tumblr.com/post/145730029521)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
>  
> 
> Ending art by the ever-amazing [Squigglydigg](http://squigglydigg.tumblr.com/)! 
> 
> If you liked this story enough to recommend it to others, [here's](http://tyigra.tumblr.com/post/144927628986) a tumblr post you can reblog.


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